House Adjourns Sine Die After Historic Conservative Achievements
The Oklahoma House of Representatives adjourned sine die Thursday after supporting Oklahomans' priorities and passing numerous pieces of conservative legislation. "I have always said that the House is the body closest to the people, and we showed that once again this session by passing multiple pieces of legislation that were priorities of our constituents," said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, who is term-limited after serving as the longest-tenured speaker in state history. "Throughout my time in the Legislature I have taken service to my district, and the citizens all across our state, very seriously, and it has been an honor to serve as Speaker of the House for the past eight years. President Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘Nothing worth having comes easy.’ I have seen that to be true through both highs and lows during my time in the House, but I am proud to say that without a doubt our state is in a better place now than it was when I was first elected. That is only possible through the effort of my Caucus, and I am thankful for their support over the last decade as we have made Oklahoma a better place to live, work and raise a family.” The Legislature sent over 430 bills to the governor this session, including bills to address illegal immigration, codify the Women's Bill of Rights and prohibit ranked-choice voting within the state. The House also launched an easily accessible online budget dashboard that details appropriations for the previous fiscal year, state agencies' budget requests, and each chamber's official negotiating position. "The House Budget Transparency Portal has given Oklahomans an unprecedented amount of access to the budget process,” McCall said. "Through the hard work of House staff, Oklahomans have been able to see every step of the budget process play out, and can see exactly where their hard earned tax dollars are being spent. Although the House would have preferred to see an income tax cut included, the budget passed by the Legislature is a good budget that funds core services and decreases government spending from last year. I’m proud of the House negotiating team for their hard work throughout the process, and confident that Oklahomans will be pleased with the result.” The House Republican Caucus' major accomplishments throughout the two-year 59th Legislature include: Education: Invested a record $1.5B in new funding to public K-12 education between FY19-FY25, including $839.5M in FY24 and FY25 (HB1934, HB2901, HB2903, HB2904, SB1118, SB1119, SB1121, SB36X, SB1125, SB1122) Established a tiered system of refundable tax credits for parents who choose to send their children to private schools or homeschool them (HB1934) Invested $10M into a three-year program to employ a literacy instructional team in school districts (SB1118) Created a three-year school safety pilot program (HB2903, HB2904) Supported six weeks paid maternity leave for public school educators (SB1121) Updated graduation requirements to require four years of math and six credits in subjects aligning with their Individual Career and Academic Plan (HB3278) Required school personnel to include a student's parent or guardian in any electronic communications (HB3958) Allowed class credit for students completing a religious or morality course from an independent entity as approved by the school board (HB1425, sent to governor) Tax Relief: Eliminated the 4.5% state sales tax on groceries (HB1955), providing the largest single-year tax cut in state history House Republicans also passed a slate of income tax (HB1954, HB1953, HB2285, HB1040X, HB1002XXX, HB2949, HB2950) and corporate tax reductions (HB2948), but the Senate did not act on the measures. States' Rights: Protected religious organizations from discrimination due to their religion (SB404) Codified the Women's Bill of Rights (HB1449, sent to governor) Ensured children do not undergo irreversible gender reassignment surgeries (SB613) Extended the protest period in the initiative petition process to 90 business days (HB1105, sent to governor) Kept Oklahoma's elections free and fair by prohibiting ranked-choice voting (HB3156) Public Safety: Created the crime of impermissible occupation when someone willfully and without permission enters and remains in Oklahoma without having first obtained legal authorization to enter the U.S. (HB4156) Overhauled the state's outdated sentencing structure for felony offenses (HB1792, sent to governor) Provided $18M for sheriff and deputy pay raises in the FY2025 budget (HB2914, sent to governor) Increased the punishments for domestic abuse against a pregnant woman (SB1046) and for strangulation against an intimate partner (SB1211) Expanded workers' compensation claims for law enforcement to include post-traumatic stress disorder (SB1457) Created a task force to study the implementation of a business court system in Oklahoma (SB473, sent to governor) FY2025 Budget: $12.47B state budget for FY2025 (SB1125, sent to governor) $25M additional funding into the school funding formula $27.6M for CareerTech to address its waitlist $240M for new engineering and science facilities at OU and OSU $350M for the new Oklahoma Capital Assets Maintenance and Protection Fund to cover deferred maintenance at state properties, state parks and public colleges and universities $30M to increase reimbursement rates for developmental disability service providers $3M to provide 300 additional individuals with developmental disability services $15M increase to provide services to pregnant women $74M to complete the new DPS training facility in Lincoln County $2.5M for DPS academy to train more Highway Patrol troopers $27.5M for new OSBI headquarters building $1.5M to address the rape kits backlog $45M in disaster relief to help tornado-impacted counties $200M to Rural Economic Transportation Reliability & Optimization (RETRO) Fund $50M to DEQ to upgrade levees along the Arkansas River $12.7M to Oklahoma Water Resources Board to leverage federal funding in community water supply $41M for airport economic development projects The 60th Legislature will be seated in November and convene for Organizational Day on Jan. 7, 2025. The next legislative session begins Feb. 3, 2025.